MIDDLEBORO – After an explosive start, Middleboro and Apponequet struggled to find paydirt until early in the fourth quarter.

It was a wide-open Wyatt Goyette that came up with a huge 28-yard TD grab from fellow junior Colton Ward to make it 14-7 for the Middleboro Sachems with 9:53 left. That score stood in the nonleague matchup after a key fourth down stop gave the Sachems the ball back to run out the rest of the clock.

“I think it’s a credit to our kids,” said Sachems coach Patrick Kingman. “I think they’ve bought in since probably way back in 2011 about just building a culture and being a little bit gritty.”

Senior captain Andrew Falk stopped Apponequet senior captain Brody Joly on a wheel-route half of a yard short for the fifth turnover on downs Middleboro (1-0) forced on the evening as the Sachems ran out the remaining 1:28.

Apponequet’s Lucas Tremblay (52) puts the pressure on Middleboro quarterback Andrew Falk during the second half of Thursday’s football battle. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

“It’s fourth and long and we practice those situations in practice all the time,” Falk said about the stop. “That’s just a main focus that we have. They dumped it off to the running back and I knew I had to make a play. They were only one yard short, so a little close there.”

Falk also came up with a run of 11 yards to jump start the second touchdown drive as well as a 15-yard run on fourth down to help the Sachems run out more clock later in the fourth.

“Falk might be the most dominant football player on the field,” Kingman said. “He makes a gazillion plays on defense and you can’t really throw the ball his way. … You need a big fourth down play or a third down play, you can give him the ball and he runs it.”

It was senior captain Caiden Carriuolo who started off with a bang as he took his second carry 59 yards to the house for a 7-0 advantage with just 45 seconds off the clock.

Carriuolo finished with nine carries for 78 yards and sat out most of the second half due to injury.

Apponequet (0-1) answered right back with a nine-play drive that ate 4:56 off the clock as sophomore Paxton Canessa hit Joly for a 21-yard score to knot the score 7-7 with 6:12 to go in the first.

Middleboro’s Wyatt Goyette celebrates his touchdown with Brady Roche (81) against Apponequet during the second half. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

Joly tallied 124 yards with 67 on the ground and 57 more through the air on four catches. Canessa went 11-of-16 for 141 yards and the score.

Middleboro was unable to get anything else going until the fourth as it gave away two fumbles in the first half to go along with a turnover on downs late in the second quarter.

The defense had to step up and they did in a big way with three turnovers on downs forced in the first half to finish with five in the contest.

“That’s just a big game changer in momentum in the game,” Goyette said about coming up with stops. “Getting a big stop and then going out there on offense and try to score.”

Sophomore Brady Stewart came up with a huge sack to end a drive in the second for the Lakers and was one of five sacks for the Sachems. Junior DJ Alexander ended up with two sacks for the defense as well.

Next up, Middleboro will host Holliston next Friday at 7 p.m. Apponequet will look to rebound next Friday at 7 p.m. at Abington.